What Separates the Men from the Oranges
Well, this man, anyway.
There have been Mondays when Amy finishes the Times crossword in two and a half minutes. It takes me twice as long. On Saturdays, she's done in five minutes. Today she smoked me by a factor of eight. When it comes to the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, I came to terms long ago with the realization that I will never have the right stuff.
I'm curious about the acrostics, though. Recently, Will Shortz said something about how it takes most solvers a lot longer to finish them. Really? I told him I'm usually done in about 15 minutes. It was hard to interpret the look on his face. I wondered if a.) I'm the fastest solver of acrostics in the country or b.) he thought I was lying.
Today I timed myself to make sure I wasn't boasting unjustifiably, and sure enough, I was finished in 15 minutes. I wish there were a timed applet so that I could know how I stand up to the competition. If there were an American Acrostic Tournament, could I be a contender?
There have been Mondays when Amy finishes the Times crossword in two and a half minutes. It takes me twice as long. On Saturdays, she's done in five minutes. Today she smoked me by a factor of eight. When it comes to the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, I came to terms long ago with the realization that I will never have the right stuff.
I'm curious about the acrostics, though. Recently, Will Shortz said something about how it takes most solvers a lot longer to finish them. Really? I told him I'm usually done in about 15 minutes. It was hard to interpret the look on his face. I wondered if a.) I'm the fastest solver of acrostics in the country or b.) he thought I was lying.
Today I timed myself to make sure I wasn't boasting unjustifiably, and sure enough, I was finished in 15 minutes. I wish there were a timed applet so that I could know how I stand up to the competition. If there were an American Acrostic Tournament, could I be a contender?
posted by DO at 9:59 AM
8 Comments:
I haven't timed myself in the NYT acrostic, but I'd be surprised if it took me as long as 15 minutes most weeks...
Sounds to me like a smackdown in the works.
I think it was about 10 minutes this morning. Bring it on!
That's funny, I "think" I was wrong, and that I was actually done in nine.
This is dangerous. Somebody's going to come along and claim two or three minutes, and then we'll feel terrible.
Eh, not to worry folks. It takes me 45 minutes. But I do get through the acrostic much faster than the sunday puzzle (which tells you how dang slow I am at the sunday puzzle).
Today's acrostic took me 7:10. It think it faster than usual, since there were so many long words in the quote.
I'm sorry I brought it up. Now that we've heard from the real pros, I discover that, when it comes to the acrostic (as with the crossowrd), I am, to quote Salieri in Amadeus, the "patron saint of mediocrity."
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